AQR Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Iridium Communications Inc by 56.4%, selling 530,295 shares and leaving it with 410,476 shares valued at approximately $11.09 million.
• Despite a 7.9% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, Iridium missed earnings expectations, reporting $0.20 EPS compared to the $0.23 consensus estimate.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.14 to $0.15, representing a yield of 3.3%, with the dividend to be paid on September 30th.

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 56.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 410,476 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 530,295 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.38% of Iridium Communications worth $11,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 196.3% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 56,164 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 37,206 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 590,023 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $17,122,000 after purchasing an additional 10,226 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $438,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,867 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 2,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,143,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company's stock.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 6.4%

IRDM opened at $17.96 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.51. Iridium Communications Inc has a fifty-two week low of $17.94 and a fifty-two week high of $35.85. The firm's fifty day moving average is $26.50 and its 200 day moving average is $26.79. The stock has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.78.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.03). Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The company had revenue of $216.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $214.73 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Iridium Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is 56.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on IRDM shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $39.00 price target (down previously from $47.00) on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $38.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, BWS Financial lowered shares of Iridium Communications from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $25.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $32.83.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services.

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